EDRI-gram

Spam & spyware

Last month, an international coalition of civil rights organizations and
academic experts asked antivirus software vendors how they handled
state-sponsored malware. Some of them already responded and the
responses are interesting.

The letter, drafted by Bits of Freedom and signed by organisations such
as EDRi, several EDRi-members and security experts such as Bruce
Schneier, was sent to various antivirus companies (see below for a
complete list). The coalition writes in the letter that these companies
have a vital position in providing security and maintaining the trust of
internet users engaging in sensitive activities such as electronic
banking.

Last week, European Digital Rights attended the second annual Stockholm Internet Forum which focused on two main themes: Internet Freedom and Security and Internet Freedom and Development. A novelty this year were the Unconference sessions.

According to security vendor Symantec, a shift has taken place in the weight
of the spam networks, the European ones having created more unsolicited
e-mail than those in the US lately. Thus, approximately 44 per cent of all
spam messages are originated from Europe as compared to 35.1 per cent
originated from the US.

In the opinion of one of Symantec's European product marketing managers,
Fredrik Sjostedt, the advantage taken by European spammers is due to the
large penetration of broadband. "Historically the majority of spammers were
U.S.-based, but now we're seeing a lot of Eastern European and Russian spam
gangs active (.) We've moved away from traditional, individual spammers, to

The European Commission has criticized the member countries, considering
that they should better implement the present legal framework and fight
against spam, but also take more seriously into consideration the spyware
and malicious software issues.

According to the recent figures made public by Sophos, approx. 32% of the
world's spam comes from European countries, with France, Spain, Poland and
Italy on the top. And this situation occurs when all the EU countries have
implemented the 2002 E-privacy Directive that has imposed the opt-in
principle on spam. Cooperation in effectively implementing the legal acts is
lacking in most of the European Countries.

The Commission presented two European best practices in the fight against

The first global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was organized by United
Nations in Athens between 30 October and 2 November 2006.

The forum has shown a strong and large opposition to Internet blocking and
filtering, putting under pressure repressive governments such as China. The
three sessions devoted to content regulation and control have been dominated
by the advocates of anti-censorship and access to knowledge that have
criticized the state control of Internet content.

Thus, Amnesty International publicly handed a pledge, called
Irrepressible Info. that states: "I believe the Internet should be a force
for political freedom, not repression. People have the right to seek and

A new recommendation on the cross-border co-operation in the enforcement of
laws against spam was adopted by the OECD Council session on 13 April 2006,
completing the Anti-spam toolkit promoted by OECD since 2004.

The recommendation admits that there is not single solution for tackling the
spam issues and the international cooperation is the key in solving the
problem. The OECD document urges countries to ensure that their laws enable
enforcement authorities to share information with other countries and
promote the establishment of a single national contact point to facilitate
international cooperation.

According to OECD recommendation there are four important areas that need to
be taken into account by the member countries: establishing a domestic
framework, improving the ability to cooperate, improving procedures for

A report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on the spam
issue considers that a more effective approach would be to require the
establishment of enforceable codes of conduct by Internet service providers,
but at the same time promoting anti-spam legislation in all the countries in
the world.

ITU has recently published its 7th edition of Trends in Telecommunication
Reform that examines the regulatory challenges and opportunities of enabling
ICT development. The report provides regulators with tools they can use to
promote effective and innovative development and use of ICTs in a
competitive environment. The 7th chapter, publicly available on the ITU
website, consists in a report prepared by John Palfrey, Executive Director
of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, regarding the present global